Saturday, September 18, 2010

So once again we can see that there is nothing religious when it comes to the Discovery Institute and intelligent Design, right? Sure and one of their new bloggers is living proof. She's a hard-hitting science type with no interest in religion? Guess again.

Josh Rosenau noticed this right off and posted a terrific post about it on his blog "Thoughts from Kansas". Here is how they introduced her:

"[NOTE: Today we welcome a new contributing writer to Evolution News & Views, Heather Zeiger. Ms. Zeiger graduated magna cum laude from the University of Texas at Dallas with a B.S. in chemistry and a minor in government and politics. She received her M.S. in chemistry, also from UTD; her research was in organic synthesis and materials.]"

However Josh found a slightly more detailed description that seemed to leave a few parts out:

"Heather Zeiger graduated magna cum laude from the University of Texas at Dallas with a B.S. in chemistry and a minor in government and politics. She received her M.S. in chemistry, also from UTD; her research was in organic synthesis and materials. She interned at Probe Ministries prior to graduate school and now serves with Probe as a Research Associate. Her interests involve science and culture issues, including bioethics, origins, and the environment. She is currently working on a M.A. in bioethics from Trinity International University. She is married to David, another former Probe intern and teacher at Trinity Christian Academy. "

Notice how the Probe Ministries and Trinity Christian Academy just happened to not be mentioned by the Discovery Institute.

I suppose we could give Heather the benefit of the doubt -- but that's not going to happen. She testified in Texas and bragged about it. No, Miss Heather is not interested in science much. Here are a few select quotes from her blog: (links provided so you can see the whole quote in context)

"hopefully we can discuss the Christian worldview on stem cells." and "This is part of our ministry of "having a defense for the hope that you have in Christ." (April 2009)

"I am working on a book review on Signature in the Cell. The review will be published soon. I was contacted to write this review because of my chemistry and apologetics background - I'm not sure how much of this was their enthusiasm over my "awesome writing skills" or the fact that there aren't that many Christian apologists that are chemists. (August 2009)

"I gave one talk on Wednesday and will be giving another one for a Sunday School class this Sunday on the Evidences for the Existence of God." (November 2009)

That's just a few. In fact I pulled those quotes on the ONLY 4 pages I looked at. It's not like I had to dig hard to find them. I think the only good thing about her is she seems to be honest about her beliefs. You can't say that about the majority of the folks at the DI.

I especially like the book review of Stephen C. Meyer's 'epic'. Now why would there not be many Christian Apologetics that are chemists? Plus her link takes us to the Amazon page and there doesn't seem to be any review by her on their pages. I also wonder who 'asked' her to do a review. I guess the book can't stand on it's own when you have to scare up apologetics to write reviews. Having read the book, yea, it needs all the propping up it can get. It certainly cannot stand on it's own legs based on any included science. Oh well back to Miss Heather.

I hope you can see what I see. We have yet another apologetic posting on the Discovery Institute blog . . . and yet they still claim that ID has nothing to do with religion. That little deception has worn paper thin! I have one small hope. I hope that Miss Heather continues to represent her beliefs in the forefront of her posts for the DI. I am not particularly hopeful because in her first post, in my opinion she screws things up. A the end of the third paragraph she has this gem:

"So while the biologists are discussing how natural selection acting on random mutations will produce new species and evolution is good because it produces more fit species, the geneticists and the engineers are looking for ways to overpower Nature and take the reins of our own evolutionary advancement."

Is Evolution 'good'? No, evolution simple 'is'. There is no good or bad about it. It's an explanation of how nature works, nothing more. Are geneticists and engineers looking for ways to improve upon nature? Of course they are. Look at the things they have already produced. Isn't that what we have done in every scientific discipline? Well we shall see what her posts are like. But I doubt she will be as open as she was at Probe Ministries, I don't think the DI won't allow that to happen!

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Welcome to my little corner of the Internet

This blog is more a way for me to clarify my own thinking and opinions more than for any other purpose. I like writing things down, having links to source material, and offering my own $.02. I find a blog let's me do that. I encourage comments and emails from any who wish to do so. I am not shy, as you might have noticed, and I am also not afraid of a dissenting view. I might disagree with you, but I will defend your right to say what you think as well as I expect the same respect!

Why blog on this particular topic? Well after seeing the tactics of groups like the Discovery Institute, I couldn't stay silent on the subject. After the Discovery Institute spins their lies, after the defendants in the Dover trial LIED under oath, and after Texas fired their state science curriculum director for forwarding an email appropriate to her duties-- I couldn't sit back and just watch.

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I am a family man who works in Ohio, Information Technology and computer programming are my areas of expertise. For those of you who know me, growing grass in my backyard is obviously not, so quit laughing!
Why blog? In all honesty, why not? It's fun, has been very educational, and it also has offered me insights into people and positions I may not have thought much about before. (http://www.eff.org/issues/bloggers)